1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention generally relate to a spinning reel, and more specifically, to a spinning reel that is mounted to a fishing rod and is allowed to reel out the fishing line forward.
2. Background Information
In general, a spinning reel includes a reel unit that has a handle and is mounted to a fishing rod, a spool for winding a fishing line, which is mounted to the reel unit so as to be allowed to move back and forth, a rotor that is rotatably supported by the reel unit and serves to wind the fishing line around the spool, a rotor driving mechanism for rotating the rotor in conjunction with rotation of the handle, and an oscillation mechanism for moving the spool back and forth in conjunction with rotation of the handle. The rotor driving mechanism includes a master gear, which has a master gear shaft to which the handle is integrally and rotatably mounted and a gear part disposed on the outer peripheral side of the master gear shaft to transmit rotation of the handle to the rotor, and a pinion gear, which is integrally and rotatably mounted to the rotor and to which rotation of the master gear is transmitted in conjunction with rotation of the handle. The oscillation mechanism is a traverse cam typed reciprocation mechanism. The oscillation mechanism includes a worm shaft that has a spiral groove formed on its outer peripheral part and rotates in conjunction with rotation of the pinion gear, an engaging member that is engaged with the spiral groove of the worm shaft, and a slider to which the engaging member is mounted and which moves back and forth in conjunction with rotation of the worm shaft.
In a spinning reel of this type, when the handle is rotated in a line-winding direction, rotational force of the handle is transmitted to the pinion gear through the master gear, and the rotational force transmitted to the pinion gear is transmitted to the rotor through the front part of the pinion gear, and the rotor is rotated in the line-winding direction. On the other hand, when the worm shaft is rotated in conjunction with rotation of the pinion gear, the slider moves in the anteroposterior direction through the engaging member that is engaged with the spiral groove. When the slider is moved in the anteroposterior direction, the spool shaft, which is axially and non-movably mounted to the slider, is moved in the anteroposterior direction; and accordingly, the spool is moved in the anteroposterior direction.
An oscillation mechanism of this type is known in which the worm shaft is disposed on the upper side (fishing rod mounting side) of the spool shaft for forming the reel unit to have a small size (see Japanese Examined Utility Model Application Publication No. H01-42461).
Here, the worm shaft is disposed on the upper side of the spool shaft. Therefore, it is not necessary to produce a space for disposing a variety of mechanisms on the lower side of the spool shaft. Accordingly, it is possible to construct the reel body to have a small size in the vertical direction.
Also, in the oscillation mechanism of this type, the worm shaft is disposed on the upper side of the master gear shaft, and the engaging member to be engaged with the spiral groove of the worm shaft is also disposed rearward on the upper side of the master gear shaft. Therefore, a part of the slider to which the engaging member is mounted is disposed rearward on the upper side of the master gear shaft. On the other hand, a part of the slider to which the spool shaft is secured is disposed rearward on the lower side of the master gear shaft.
In addition, in the oscillation mechanism of this type, the worm shaft is arranged to anteroposteriorly penetrate the slider disposed on the upper side of the master gear shaft. The worm shaft is also arranged to anteroposteriorly penetrate the part of the slider to which the spool shaft is secured is disposed on the lower side of the part of the slider to which the worm shaft is mounted and at the same as this, on the lower side of the master gear shaft. Here, the worm shaft is configured to penetrate the upper side of the slider back and forth and plays a role of a guide shaft for guiding the slider in the anteroposterior direction.